Republicans propose resolution to censure Rashida Tlaib

The members of Congress cited Tlaib's long history of statements and actions that have been widely deemed as antisemitic, anti-Israel, and dishonest.

 Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S., October 18, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/LEAH MILLIS)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S., October 18, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/LEAH MILLIS)

Georgia Republicans Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Congressman Rich McCormick proposed resolutions to censure Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for, what they claim, advancing antisemitic rhetoric, sympathizing with the Hamas terror organization, and spreading false narratives.

Tlaib is frequently at the center of similar accusations, having been sharply castigated earlier this month by Israeli-Jewish author and activist Noa Tishby on X (formerly Twitter) for calling the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be Free,” a call for freedom and peaceful coexistence. The slogan is widely recognized as a call to erase Israel from the map.

In Greene’s censure proposal, she cites Tlaib’s 2019 comments where the anti-Israel congresswoman stated she felt a “calming feeling” when she thought about the Holocaust, because, she claimed at the time, her ancestors sacrificed their lives and land “in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-Holocaust.”

Greene added that, in the days following the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel, Tlaib blamed “America for allowing the deaths of Palestinian babies at the hands of Israel.”

The Georgia congresswoman also accused Tlaib of inciting “illegal occupation” of the US capital by Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization, Greene notes, that the ADL refers to as a radical anti-Israel activist group. Last month, the leftist group stormed the Capitol building in protest of US support for Israel and called for an immediate ceasefire. 

US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) addresses a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, February 5, 2021.  (credit: REUTERS/SARAH SILBIGER/FILE PHOTO)
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) addresses a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, February 5, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/SARAH SILBIGER/FILE PHOTO)

Congressman McCormick’s proposal to censure also enumerates much of Tlaib’s public history of statements and actions that have been slammed as antisemitic, anti-Israel, and dishonest.

"I’ve put forward a serious resolution to censure @RashidaTlaib that condemns her racist and hate filled rhetoric," McCormick wrote on X on Monday.

McCormick also reiterates the Jewish people’s indigeneity to the land of Israel.

“Israel has existed on its lands for millennia,” the Georgia congressman said, “and the United States played a critical role in returning Israel to those lands in 1948, immediately following the Holocaust.”

What does censuring a member of the House of Representatives mean?

According to the US House of Representatives’s History, Art, and Archives website, “Censure registers the House’s deep disapproval of Member misconduct that, nevertheless, does not meet the threshold for expulsion.”

Censuring a member of the House of Representatives entails the censured member being made to stand in the well of the house and listen as the Speaker of the House reads the censure resolution, rebuking the member.